Written in Stone
by Bhel-Elryss
Summary: "A moonless night is a night Agni is ignorant of the world." Zuko's was a difficult birth, and Agni could not help. Guanyin, Earth's patron great spirit, has always been merciful. Earthbender!Zuko Au. Told in drabble form.


A moonless night is a night Agni is ignorant of the world, deprived even of the reflected visions gifted through Tui's benevolence. On such a night Ozai's son was born, as court astrologers decried the stars' alignments as a sign of early death and poor bending.

Prince Lu Ten prayed to all the great spirits with his father at a lonely shrine in the garden that night, when Ursa and child teetered on the edge of death and life, for a miracle.

Agni was blind to the world, and one of his was in need; Guanyin has always been merciful.

* * *

He was two, playing games with Lu Ten out in the garden as they waited for his little brother or sister to be born. Young as Zuko was, afternoon naps had become things for babies, not young Fire princes.

As his nursemaid shooed him away from playing, his tantrum shook the earth enough to throw Lu Ten in the turtle-duck pond. Azula was born as Agni's rays were at their strongest, as Zuko cracked earth with childish stomping.

Ozai was much displeased.

That night Ursa kissed her children on their heads, and left before gleaming armor could accuse of infidelity.

* * *

"I see you favor the white lotus gambit, not many still cling to the old ways." The graying man said gravely.

"Those who do will always find a friend." The young man whispered hoarsely, fingering an extra lotus tile. "Father says he needs a home."

"One will be found for him."

Nodding, the young man in Fire marine armor shifted, toddler on his hip. Gently, he transferred the dozing child to the swordsman. Stiffly, he bowed to his elder, "May Agni light your path."

The man returned the bow fluidly, "And His rays grant you peace." And took his leave.

* * *

Zuko was five and had already moved three times in memory, fleeing the ever-encroaching Fire army. His father taught him bending basics, and promised to find a proper teacher once they reached Ba Sing Se.

He was six when they stopped in some odd-end town, presumably to earn just enough money to get them to a safe house, and eight when they left as the Rough Rhinos stampeded through and burned down their home.

He was eight and a half when they finally got to Ba Sing Se, and watched in horror as an Outer Wall segment came crumbling down.

* * *

His family finally settled in Gaoling, far south of any Fire Nation interests. Zuko played hide-and-slide with his brothers and the neighborhood kids, devoted himself to learning earthbending, and got lost in the caves outside town looking for badger-moles.

He was eleven when he saw her, a slip of a girl stomping purposefully into the caves he regularly explored. He confronted her, head tilted up and fists planted firmly on hips, "These are my caves." He punched a few rocks her way, hoping she'd run like the other town girls.

She knocked him over with her bending, and claimed victory.

* * *

He's twelve, and he's made a habit of stalking the girl who out-bent him. She manages to avoid him every time, but he's determined to get a rematch. He takes to waiting outside the caves, and his eldest brother teases him, "You got a girlfriend or something out there, Zuko?" Zuko cringes, but stays silent.

Who would believe some blind girl kicked his butt?

On a dare, after giving up on the cave idea, he sneaks over the wall around the Beifong home. He's running from guards, laughing as the fire of adrenaline rips through his veins, and stops.

"You!"

* * *

He's fourteen and Toph Beifong is his closest friend, much to the confusion of everyone. "You're too old for imaginary friends Zuko," chides his father, but Zuko knows the truth.

"Do you think you can teach me," Zuko asks one night as they explore the caves, "to bend like you do?" She cocks her head in his direction, and he bows, would-be student to master.

She kicks a dirt clod at his head, and walks ahead, "If you think you can keep up, Sparkles." With a face-splitting smile he rushes forward, torch guttering wildly.

"Thanks shorty!"

She punches his arm.

* * *

His sixteenth birthday rolls around, and he's heard rumors about the Avatar. His brothers have already joined the army, and he's preparing to do so as well. Protect the homeland (protect Toph), save the Kingdom.

But that's a decision for another day, because today is the Earth Rumble championship. He's got tickets (good ones, the kind people fight over), and the Blind Bandit is going to _rock_.

He's got a bet with Ling, a good friend, on who will win (Ling swears the Boulder is a shoo-in, and he'll always back the Bandit). After, they call it a bad deal.

* * *

He's going to visit Toph the night after the tournament, and he's straddling the fence when she and some bald kid get taken. Frowning, he follows at a distance, sure to keep to the shadows. He's trying to plan a way to free them when her father shows.

Toph's free, he's about to leave, and then she returns. She wins, and he glows with pride because that's his _best friend_. She visits him later, speaking softly (his father's asleep in the next room), and he packs swiftly.

How could he possibly pass up the greatest adventure ever? _Father will understand_.

* * *

Zuko sits, meditating in an attempt to keep from trying to kill his fellow travelers (he _can't _kill the Avatar, no matter how his blood is boiling). They're all tired, and that machine is still following them.

Katara is screaming, Toph shouting right back at her, and he opens his eyes to see his best friend stomping off. Alarmed, he stands to follow. Sokka grabs his arm and ropes him into setting camp back up, and Toph flies from his mind in the wake of that plume of smoke returning.

Later they're safe, and he fights off faint, _foreign_, memories.

* * *

Aang starts practicing with Toph soon after, and he endeavors to help the Water Tribe siblings in any way. He feels useless, an extra, unneeded earthbender, and his temper is so hard to control.

Sokka jokes about how he could probably pass for Fire Nation, if he didn't keep sliding rocks around. The thought makes him shudder.

The library they find is so large, and he's rustling through information on Fire's royal family and government when Katara grabs his elbow and they're running for their life.

They barely survive the desert, and he's secretly relieved to enter Ba Sing Se.

* * *

Even after the ordeals outside the city, and all the craziness with Joo Dee, and Dai Lee, Zuko decides to stay with Katara in the city. He doesn't trust it, says so openly, but Sokka and Aang are both optimistic now that Appa's back.

Before he knows it, the city's been overthrown; he's bending earth as best he can against Dai Li and Princess Azula (who reminds him of _someone_). Then that old firebender returns, and the battle's fortunes shift, until Aang falls.

_Lightning_, he thinks, before anger boils through him, and he hits the princess with an earthen fist.

* * *

They flee to a Fire Navy ship, but he hesitates when Katara announces their intention to follow Aang into the Fire Nation itself.

He remembers his father's voice when he was very small, "Never let the Fire Nation get you." The face looking into his weathered, grim.

But Toph's hand is firmly grasping his, and she pulls him along as she did when they were smaller. How can he refuse her?

Aang proves to be a poor student, and Katara proves to be a helpful spirit. Piandao proves a gifted master swordsman, who looks at him with shocked wide eyes.

* * *

He is suspicious of Hama as soon as he lays eyes on her. Katara is wonderstruck. "A Southern waterbender," she says, "I'm not the last anymore!" But Toph swears to him she knows she'd heard _something_ _screaming _out in the woods.

All he knows is that the old woman gives him goose-chicken bumps, which is not nearly enough to insist they move on when Katara is happy, and Sokka's stopped complaining about the "horrible" Fire Nation food.

When it's all over, everyone has terrible nightmares. His involve a golden-collared skeletal Fire soldier, and a strangely familiar lullaby, "_Little soldier boy…"_

* * *

They arrive early to the rendezvous point. Aang is a ball of nerves, but he's finally able to spar with Toph like they used to and is sure those nerves will pass. They do pass, after his arms ache from helping to shear koala-sheep.

The fish submarines are tight quarters, and he feels suffocated by the silence as the waterbenders propel them towards shore. He clasps arms with Toph, climbs into a tank, and prays to Guanyin that his friends stay safe.

The sun returns, and despite his protests, ("I'm a man, a soldier!"), he's tossed onto Appa.

They lost.

* * *

Iroh finds them in the Western Air Temple, rounded belly gone and standing taller than remembered. Toph welcomes him eagerly, but the old firebender makes him uneasy. The group teases him, "What, the big bad earthbender's afraid of an old man?" And he _isn't _afraid of this Dragon of the West, so he introduces himself (between Princess Azula and fleeing for their lives, he'd never been properly introduced).

The strong hug he gets is just weird, and the story the old man tells just impossible. But Sokka looks thoughtful, and says it explains his looks.

He can't be Fire Nation.

* * *

Uncle, no- _Iroh_ teaches Aang firebending, and he tries not to fall down whenever he lays eyes on the former crown prince. _Ozai's son_, a mean voice in his head whispers, _monster_.

But the comet is coming, and they have to prepare.

Aang disappears, the comet is just behind the horizon (Iroh can _feel_ it), and they split up to combat the forces of a mad Phoenix King. Katara and Iroh go to the Capitol-on-the-Caldera, to put a sane Fire Lord on the throne.

He, Toph, and Sokka are grimly determined to sabotage the air-fleet. Zuko nervously checks his blades.

* * *

His earthbending is useless, there's just no earth to bend this high up in the air. Toph smirks as she bends the metal of the ship, and he chuckles when Sokka tricks the crew into the bomb bay and drops them in the ocean.

His dual swords slide back into their sheath as they run, fleeing the aftermath of their sabotage.

They jump, and he falls. He urges Toph and Sokka on, and slips inside the airship he landed on. Laughing, he nudges the trussed captain over, and sets a course.

He breathes easier seeing Sokka and Toph still alive.

* * *

Ba Sing Se is prettier the second time around, he decides. Reunited in Jin's teashop (Fire Lord Iroh's Jasmine Dragon), Suki and Sokka, Aang and Katara, Iroh, Zuko, and Toph enjoy an evening of peace. Nervous, Zuko looks at Toph.

She feels his regard, and punches him with a grin on his face, "What do you want, Sparkles?" He grabs her hand, loose enough for her to pull away if she wants, and just holds it.

He gestures to the couples in Jin's teashop, "I'd like to tell you something."

Zuko smiles stupidly even when the bruises start to show.

* * *

**I don't even know. This wasn't supposed to be quite so long. Well, I tried to keep Zuko fundamentally the same: protective of those close to him, still a bit of a complex about honor, and still with some of that innocence he showed before Ozai burned half his face while including the overlays of an Earth Kingdom childhood.**


End file.
